Starting With Hello
by annaisadinosaur
Summary: Lily Evans made a deal with the devil. (By the name of James Potter, anyway.) The deal: if James apologized to Severus Snape, Lily had to accompany him on a date. So you can only guess who James took on a date to the Three Broomsticks. And here's a hint - it certainly wasn't Severus.


_A/N: Written for the The Hunger Games: Fanfic Style Competition and the Taylor Swift 'Red' Challenge, with the song Everything Has Changed and the pairing James/Lily._

. . . . . . . .

**Starting With Hello**

. . . . . . . .

_And your eyes look like coming home_

_All I know is a simple name_

_You'll be mine and I'll be yours_

. . . . . . . .

That was the moment everything changed.

"_You lose, Lily."_

It was a ridiculous bet, she had to admit, and she honestly hadn't thought twice to see it coming before it'd ever hit her. Because, when challenged, James Potter proved himself to be unstoppable, and she could have known that, if she'd looked hard enough to see it. He'd claimed that he would walk up to Severus Snape and single-handedly apologize for every moment of humiliation that had ever lay in his fault. Lily called him on his bluff. But, unfortunately for Lily, James wasn't one to bluff.

Somewhere in the ordeal, Lily had promised a date in exchange for an apology to Severus. She hadn't known why she bothered, considering she hadn't spoken to Severus in Merlin knew how long, and wasn't planning on it, either. Frankly, Lily hadn't seriously considered any of it very much at all—who knew that James bloody Potter would _apologize _in the first place?

And, moreover, who knew that Lily Evans would _willingly_ go on a date with James Potter?

And have _enjoyed it_?

"Well, I see that you've survived the night, Evans."

Sirius Black was at her side, keeping up with her with an unnatural spring in his step and an overpowering smirk on his face.

Lily attempted to act nonchalant and looked straight forward as she walked. "It seems as if you have as well, Black. I don't know whether or not to be disappointed."

"Oh, pfft. Bollocks if I've ever heard it. You're too nice for that."

All Lily could feel in her stomach were butterflies, overriding any sense of hunger as she walked to the Great Hall for breakfast. It certainly had nothing to do with Sirius's presence, but rather with the idea that James was already waiting there. The feeling bordered the lines of pleasant and uncomfortable, and she had half the mind to just walk away from Sirius entirely to avoid the reminder.

"So, what happened exactly?" Sirius asked, not seeming to notice the increased fervor in her pace. "James actually looked accomplished yesterday. Something of a shocker, quite honestly."

Lily aimed a glare. "As _if_ he didn't tell you everything."

"He didn't, actually." Sirius frowned. "I think that's more of a girl thing, gossiping. Which is why I came straight to you!"

She sighed, absentmindedly brushing her hair to one side of her face. Black looked positively gleeful, a nearly naïve sort of joy. Lily hadn't anticipated that her forfeit of the 'I hate James Potter the arrogant toerag' act included a side of specialty Black pestering also.

"_Hello, Lily. You look different."_

"_Hello, James." She pointedly chose to not ask just what looked different about her. He answered anyways._

"_You're not sneering at me for once," James said, and a gentle smile found his face that she'd never seen before. "I like it."_

Lily exhaled, painfully reminded that Sirius was still close in-step beside her. "Well, what _do_ you know?"

"Three Broomsticks, yesterday afternoon at five." Sirius nodded firmly. "That's all."

"What more is there to know?"

_It was funny how Lily she never knew James Potter had freckles until they had two butterbeers and were laughing over the likelihood of Filch eloping with Mrs. Norris. It wasn't really been funny at all, but there was something about the atmosphere in the room that made Lily giddy and light, and in that moment, the only thing that felt right was laughter._

"Did he demonstrate his splendid and masterful snogging skills on you? I've heard it's like eating heaven."

Lily screwed up her face. "What in the world, Black? How would you even _know_ that?" Sirius's manic laughter in response was not much of an answer. "What a disturbing analogy…"

"_You have a phobia of people opening doors for you? Of all the things to be phobic over?" _

"_It's not a phobia, really," Lily said, crossing her arms. "I just prefer to open doors for myself."_

"_Well, we've got to break you of that, don't we?"_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_One second." James took a leap ahead of her and emphatically grabbed the handle of the door, pulling it wide open. With a grin wide across his face, he beckoned her through it. "After you, m'lady."_

"_Fine, James." She rolled her eyes, smiling slightly, and obliged as he followed her out. "And what was that supposed to do, exactly?"_

"_One step at a time, Lily."_

She and Sirius arrived at the doors of the Great Hall, and for a moment, she was hesitant to push through them. Walking through those doors meant confronting change. Denial was not kind to her.

"So _you're_ staying tight-lipped, too? Really? Next time I'll have to send spies to follow you both…"

"Who said there was going to be a next time?"

Sirius raised a brow. "But you didn't say there _wasn't_ going to be?"

Lily smiled. "I didn't say anything, _remember_?"

"Right."

When she finally pushed the doors open, she found herself welcoming that change, that challenge. Because, after all, it's what James would have done, wasn't it?

"Look. There's your boyfriend." Sirius gestured vaguely in the direction of the Gryffindor table, where James happened to meet Lily's gaze immediately. "Looks like he's been waiting for you."

"It's about as likely that he was waiting for _you_ as he was waiting for me," Lily told him, all while maintaining tight eye contact with the boy of mention. A warm smile flickered at her lips, and he returned a smile of equivalent enthusiasm.

Sirius's head, meanwhile, spun wildly between the both. "What was _that_ all about? I saw that, Evans! Hey—_ow_—shoving is completely uncalled for!"

"_Well, thanks for tonight. It was nice, even though you refused my rather polite offer for a cliché goodnight kiss, I will concede—"_

"_Don't push your luck, James—"_

"_Give me a chance, Miss Lily." He grinned, an expression close to a smirk but far less annoying and a note more charming. "I wasn't finished. I was going to ask if I might steal another night of yours someday, any day you like, sometime in the future. And if you'd like, I can promise there will be no advances in the likes of smooching unless I am given explicit permission prior to said event."_

_Lily rolled her eyes, but met his gaze with one that transformed slowly into a smile. She nodded, as if thinking it over. "Yeah, I think I could spare another night for you to steal."_

_He bit his lips together, and Lily fathomed he was trying hard to hide just how happy the simple sentence had made him. "You've got this look," he said, "that makes me feel like there's something you want to say, but won't, unless I pry incessantly."_

_She shrugged. "It's nothing."_

"_I'm prying incessantly. Feel free to share."_

"_Fine." She glanced away briefly, and then returned her smile in his direction. "I just find it odd that I've known you for more than six years and all I've ever really known of you was a name and a bad reputation."_

"_That's all? I was hoping for something more… I don't know… controversial."_

_She laughed. "Well, how's this? I'd like to get to know you better, James."_

When they arrived at the table, Sirius was fighting to keep up with Lily, shouts of confusion and demands for confessions thrown about on her tail. She passed James with a simple nod of her head and a "Hello," to which he happily repeated.

"Well, I know you two didn't snog the lights out, and both of you came out with a complete set of limbs," Sirius announced to James loudly, which Lily dismissed upon sitting with Mary MacDonald and pointedly looking downwards at the table, "but I can't help but feel that someone conveniently forgot to tell me this grand master plan to the apocalypse that you both are apparently in on."

"What are you talking about, mate?" James laughed, clapping Sirius on the back.

Remus gave Sirius a bewildered look. "Yeah, Padfoot, what's gotten into you?"

"You told _Remus_?" Sirius cried in disbelief. "Wormy, don't tell me he told you, too—I swear, James, if you left me out of your girly gossip—"

Mary nudged Lily in the shoulder and whispered, "Are they talking about you?"

Lily giggled. "Dunno. Probably. Boys, who understands them?"

Mary shrugged. "True."

_When she went to bed that night, the only thing she could see were hazel eyes and freckles and his smile that made her feel like everything, _everything_, had changed._

_. . . . . . . ._

**A/N: I really need to re-read this a few more times, but it's midnight and I want to get this out because I can't stop myself. Feel free to leave some constructive criticism - I'd love it. Thanks for reading x **


End file.
